🔆 SECURITY
📍 Modern Civil Defence Volunteer Force
✅ Prime Minister announced a proposed “massive modern” Civil Defence volunteer force
✅ Aim: strengthen civilian protection against modern security threats and emergencies
✅ Civil Defence operates under the Civil Defence Act and Rules, 1968
✅ Volunteers assist in warning, evacuation, rescue, first aid, firefighting and protection of critical infrastructure
✅ Proposed force will receive modern training and advanced emergency-response protocols
✅ Home Guards are a related auxiliary force under State control
📍 Multinational Maritime Defence Coalition (MMDC)
✅ 14-country maritime security alliance established under Saudi Arabian leadership
✅ Objective: protect freedom of navigation, international trade and energy supply lines
✅ Focus areas: Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden
✅ Headquarters: Western Fleet Command, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
✅ Activities: intelligence sharing, joint training, maritime patrols and operational capacity building
✅ Designed to counter drones, anti-ship missiles and uncrewed vessels
✅ Members include Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Yemen, Egypt, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Comoros, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh
⚠️ UAE and Oman did not initially join the coalition
🔆 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
📍 AI Skilling of 1 Crore Youth
✅ Prime Minister announced training 1 crore youth in AI skills within one year
✅ Announced during the 80th Independence Day address from the Red Fort
✅ Part of the Technology & Innovation pillar of the Sapta Dhara framework
✅ Aim: build an AI-skilled workforce and strengthen India’s technology ecosystem
📍 Two-Stage Microalgae CO₂ Capture Process
✅ Developed by IIT Guwahati
✅ Designed to improve CO₂ fixation, biomass production and bioenergy generation
✅ Stage 1: 15% CO₂ concentration for rapid growth and carbon assimilation
✅ Stage 2: CO₂ reduced to 5%, with calcium and phosphorus supplementation
✅ Achieved 35.4% higher CO₂ fixation and 25.7% higher biomass yield than conventional single-stage methods
✅ Lipid productivity increased 1.86 times
✅ Intracellular bioenergy efficiency improved by 37.65%
✅ Calcium-phosphorus auto-flocculation enabled 98.46% low-energy biomass recovery
🔆 MISCELLANEOUS
📍 Census 2027 – 40 Questions
✅ Centre notified 40 questions for the second phase of Census 2027
✅ For the first time in independent India, caste will be recorded for all communities, apart from SCs and STs
✅ Questionnaire contains 13 new questions compared with Census 2011
✅ New details include parents’ particulars, spouse’s name, nationality, digital literacy, permanent address and place of COVID-19 vaccination
✅ Will also collect applicable details regarding bank account, mobile number, Aadhaar, voter ID, passport and driving licence
✅ Population enumeration will begin in August/September 2026 in snow-bound areas
#CurrentAffairs
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